Of all the teas this one would be my top candidate for 'drink now', not to say that it won't age well but that I found it the most enjoyable here and now. Having said that it is the oldest.

I had half yesterday and half today. It's a lovely backround tea. It's quite unassuming, never in your face. Just quiet and relaxing. I can feel a little wired drinking shengs of this age but although this certainly did have decent energy, it was of a more laid back nature.

I tried to divide up the leaves between the two session fairly but failed as there was far more strength in the first few brews today as opposed to yesterday, it seems more broken leaf and particles ended up in todays.

No flavours or scents stand out for me in this tea, more like everything balanced out nicely. Some notes of camphor, slight floral whiff and traces which remind me of one of the types of fancy hay we feed to the guinea pigs, the name of which escapes me.

Thanks to Chip, Tim, Nada and all the reviewers in this thread. A most enjoyable otti. My teapot says thanks too.

Nannou earlier this afternoon:Putting it to bed now with some boiling water

Leaves smell of smoke, anise, and strong herbaceousness. This one promises to be powerful stuff and I will be very cautious with the first infusions!

First infusion was just 5 seconds--long enough to pour, put the kettle back, and then pour out from the gaiwan as quick as I could. And it is sweet and strong. Anise, smoky, a bit of umami, thick sweet mouthfeel, and a little peppery spice too. Wow, all that in just 5 seconds!

2nd infusion, just 7 seconds, very similar. A little earthy along with a little smoke.3rd infusion, 10 seconds, sweet, spice, anise, leather, umami. With flavor so strong so early this one will last the rest of the evening.

Many infusions later--12+--still quite sweet, unami/smoke/leather is gone. Mostly sweet flavors left, herbaceous/anise undertone, although I am now drinking this one with dinner, a moderately spicy stir fry, that might mask my perception of some other flavors. It's not done yet.

Delightful stuff.

2 grams of tea leaf, and I filled the tea with nearly 1.5 L of water in the teapot, and emptied it. That's some nice tea!

After three weeks with very little tea I enjoy the 2006 Yiwu Mt. today. And the autumn-sun is shining through the window on my face.

Something nice in the dry leaves - I can't name it - but they do not impress me so much as the Nannuo did.And now I know what you mean with tobacco and smokiness in the tea.Wow - tea itself smells like tobacco - reminds me of the pipe of my grand-grand-father in my childhood days.The taste has some smokiness - but it is nice. I like it. Even more of it in the second and third infusion.Can't tell about the Qi.The empty cup again smells heavenly - especially after the third infusion. Has really nice tobacco notes, but less sweetness than the Nannuo had.

On the seventh infusion now and I think it has a lot more to give. Still very intense taste.

With an error in water choice (unfiltered tap), I sampled the MTR 2005 Nannuo this morning.

Surprisingly, the dry leaf composition may have been at least a quarter small bits and near-dust. This may just be the way the cake crumbles. Despite many tiny pieces, the steeped leaves revealed a unique blend of very large leaves, small buds, and bits. The wet leaf aromas were swirling, complex, and shapeshifting. Rinsing brought a bevy of damp moss, wet bark, agarwood, decaying leaves and trillium blossom. Lots of dew. The first full steep ignited a resin-inspired forest fire. Further leaf aromas came with damp, wet rocks and further forest floor detritus. Flavors were seemingly light. Initially, I got a lot of cooked tomato out of it, but the flavors eventually developed into an enjoyable array of fresh mushroom characters, stemmy, woody, and with distant umami.

Unfortunately noticeable was a suffering texture. Slick, soapy, and with a soup nose of slight pool, the effect of chlorine came through, despite a hard boil of the water. It dampened the experience of the first steeps and clouded the liquor aromas. Redeeming the unfortunate damage I did to the tea, was the fact that it brought on a quick, warming, and rising qi. Soft, but direct, my core warmed and my head floated as the tea coursed through me. I sit now, pleasantly relaxed, and centered in a warm, autumn sun. *Look for an update on this tea soon, when I can enjoy it with filtered water.

I've been steeping, tasting and discarding the puerh - before today. This morning I tried steeping at the lower end of the recommended temperature range - 175 degrees. The EOT manmai and mansai were subtle and delicious. I'm glad that I've been steeping 1 gram at a time because now I have enough tea left to try the other 3 samples at this temperature and do a true comparison. Next step - a crib note card with adjectives to use to describe the tea!

JRS22 wrote:I've been steeping, tasting and discarding the puerh - before today. This morning I tried steeping at the lower end of the recommended temperature range - 175 degrees. The EOT manmai and mansai were subtle and delicious. I'm glad that I've been steeping 1 gram at a time because now I have enough tea left to try the other 3 samples at this temperature and do a true comparison. Next step - a crib note card with adjectives to use to describe the tea!

The lower temperature worked for me again this afternoon. I tried the MTR Nannuo at 175 degrees. At 195 I found it undrinkable, although the resident coffee drinker found it ok (just). But at 175 degrees it was very pleasant, interesting and enjoyable. In fact, I resteeped it so many times that I lost count.

JRS22 wrote:The lower temperature worked for me again this afternoon. I tried the MTR Nannuo at 175 degrees. At 195 I found it undrinkable, although the resident coffee drinker found it ok (just). But at 175 degrees it was very pleasant, interesting and enjoyable. In fact, I resteeped it so many times that I lost count.

and here I thought the Nannuo was delicious brewed at 200ºF

I wish my kettle was in ºC these ºF temperatures are confuzing...but 200º looks like rope of pearls so that gives me some idea.

Gave a second try to the Mansai today.The first brew was delicious - had a decent tobacco and smokiness character. But in the second and third brew this character got to strong for me and some bitterness added to it.Perhaps this one is really to young to drink now and needs some years of storage.Perhaps lower water temperatures would give a less aggressive brew.I wonder why some of you liked this one very much - I think it has a big potential but it is really to young now.

Finally got to the real taste comparison. I only did 4 out of the 5, leaving out the YiWu this time (no knock on the tea, just didn't have enough of the dinky gaiwans for all).

Conditions: 1.5 grams each tea, 30mL per infusion in tiny gaiwans, boiling water flash rinse, and water set to 205 degrees in the Pino so it would hold it quite hot for the multiple infusions.

Infusion timing was 10", 15", 15", added some cooler infusions just to see what difference it might make, 20" at 170 degrees, 30", 30"; and a few more infusions done the next day, at hotter temps, still nice but flavor fading.

The Manmai and Nannuo were more immediately approachable, sweet and light and a bit spicy without astringency or bitterness; the Mansai and Bangwai both had a stronger smokiness and bitterness especially at the beginning. Most interestingly, the Mansai and Bangwai also kept more complex flavors into the infusions, even the next day, with less bitterness but earthy/sweet/spicy there, while the Manmai and the Nannuo were close to hot water by that time.

No photos of the actual teas, because I drank them from some darkly colored cups, hiding the color of the teas.